Asturias: the hermitage of San Bartolomé and the river Sella

"The Celts believed that the head, like a nut, once separated from the body, retained the skills, strength and essence vita that was available to his opponent to protect themselves and defend themselves from misfortunes" (1).

If we leave the coast momentarily -to which we will return later, to talk about two authentic gems, such as the Santa María collegiate church and the hermitage of María Magdalena- and we set course towards Arriondas, Cangas de Onís and the spectacular surroundings that They make up Covadonga and the Picos de Europa, we will find authentic Romanesque delights, which will shake us well for its rustic simplicity, or for its elaborate and complex technique.

Of rustic simplicity, we could describe this curious hermitage of San Bartolomé, which is located on a small and picturesque promontory, at whose feet the river Sella, spectacular and chameleonic in the tonalities of its waters, forms a crossbow curve over the small population of Las Rozas. It is located at the foot of that tortuous general road that connects Oviedo with Cangas de Onís, badly called Minera Autovía, and is approximately 3 or 4 kilometers from Arriondas and 7 from Cangas.

The buttresses, located in the front or west, where we also have to put the entrance, give the temple a curious appearance, leaving in evidence a proportion, apparently little asymmetric, that seem to ignore the pursuit of perfection , that characterized, generally, the Romanesque constructions.

Two stone heads can be glimpsed, in all probability corbels surviving from their old factory, located on the right, above the threshold; hence the comparison with that ancient Celtic custom of placing on the lintels the heads of their enemies.

Except for these, there seems to be no apparent trace of more ornamentation, although a look at the interior of the nave - that is, through a small opening in the door - reveals two other possible heads located as support feet of the absidial ribs that are appreciated next to the altar, although they probably belong to a later architectural period.

On the altar, a figure is glimpsed that, still representing the saint under whose invocation is the chapel, San Bartolomé, reveals a certain druidic aura with its long tunic, sanctified halo on the head, book on his right hand and long staff or walking stick - sign of initiation and teaching - in his left hand.

Saint Bartholomew, a saint especially venerated by religious-military orders, such as the Temple which, according to tradition, flayed alive and which represents, from an eminently heterodox point of view, that serpentine idea of renewal, death and resurrection; in short, of initiation.

A saint very appreciated by the common people who, together with other enigmatic teachers of the roads -considered under this name, saints like San Roque, San Antón, Santo Domingo de la Calzada or the disciple himself, San Juan de Ortega- left an imprint of wisdom, which was, on many occasions, that marginal border to which the old religions had been relegated.

Its festivity, celebrated on August 24, is usually part of the pilgrimages with more charisma that are still held in many places in the Peninsula.

Notes:

(1) Petra van Cronnenburg: 'The Mystery of Mount Odilia', Editorial Group Ceac, S.A., 2000, page 210.

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NOTICE: originally published in my blog ROMÁNICA, ENIGMAS DEL ROMÁNICO ESPAÑOL, although unpublished in Steemit. Both the text, as the photographs, and the video (except music, reproduced under a YouTube license), are my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry, where you can check the authorship of juancar347, can be found at the following address: https://juancar347-romanica.blogspot.com/2012/07/las-rozas-ermita-de-san-bartolome.html

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Asturias: the hermitage of San Bartolomé and the river Sella